Will the use of online apps change the way people work? That’s a question discussed by a panel at theOffice 2.0 conference, moderated by Om Malik from GigaOm: Steven Aldrich, VP of strategy & innovation, Intuit; Denis Browne, senior VP, SAP Labs; Danny Kolke, CEO of Etelos; Richard McAniff, corporate ...

Om Malik runs the GigaOm series of properties (some of our favorite blogs) and we sit down and have a nice chat about what he’s working on now and look back at 2006.

AOL’s Stephen Benedict announced today at the WebGuild.org annual conference that AOL is opening up APIs for their ‘crown jewel’ AIM Instant Messenger. AOL execs talked with PodTech’s CEO John Furrier in Santa Clara GigaOm had the story yesterday. Here is a video interview with AOL’s Principle Product Manager Stephen Benedict on their new strategy and Open API initiative.

Recently-formed Silicon Valley venture capital firm Bridgescale Partners celebrated over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres with a crowd that included PodTech Founder and CEO John Furrier. Here, he talks with partners Matthew Cowan and Rob Chaplinsky about their investment strategies, smart money-raising, and the current state of the bubble.

SAN FRANCISCO, October 9, 2006 (PodTech News) — California just gave telephone companies what they wanted - a big piece of the video franchise pie. An assembly bill that Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law September 29th makes a fundamental change in the way video services can be offered to consumers. AB 2987 creates videofranchises on a statewide scale

MENLO PARK, August 28, 2006 (PodTech News) — Google announced last night it’s inviting beta-testers to try out its package of Web-based productivity apps, “Google Apps for Your Domain.” The suite, which is not yet complete, includes Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar and Google Page Creator. Some say Google again has Microsoft in its sights. But there’s one small business that won’t be taking Google up on its offer. GigaOm.com Founder and CEO Om Malik advises caution to other small business owners who might want to take the package out for a test-drive. Catherine Girardeau called Malik to find out why.

MENLO PARK, August 28, 2006 (PodTech News) — Google today announced a partnership with eBay that makes Google the exclusive provider of text-based advertising for eBay’s international sites. While a similar contract for eBay’s domestic sites went to Yahoo Inc. earlier this year, one component of today’s deal is click-to-call, in which users can click on an advertisement or an eBay listing and talk to the seller via a VOIP call. “This deal is mostly about practicality,” said Gartner Inc. Research Director Andrew Frank. PodTech’s Catherine Girardeau interviewed Frank by phone from his office in New York.

SAN FRANCISCO, August 18, 2006 (PodTech News) – “The radios worked in New Orleans until the power went out,” said Ellen Kirk, vice president of marketing for Tropos Networks, in an interview Wednesday with PodTech’s Catherine Girardeau. That test bodes well for the durability of Mountain View’s new Google WiFi ...

MENLO PARK, August 16, 2006 (PodTech News) – Google WiFi is open for business in the city of Mountain View. As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, the city of 72,000 became the second, and most populous, U.S. city with completely free Internet access blanketing the community. Chris Sacca, head of special ...

MENLO PARK, August 8, 2006 (Podtech News) — Sprint Nextel today announced plans to develop and deploy a nationwide wireless broadband mobile network using WiMAX. Sprint said it will work with Intel on mobile WiMAX-enabled chipsets and with Motorola and Samsung on devices. PodTech’s Catherine Girardeau talked with Chris Thomas, ...

Niall Kennedy was on the job for only three months. Hey how long can you sit around waiting to build a platfrom. Google is expanding and MSN seems to be cutting back according to Niall. Bummer the project sounded perfect for Niall and for MSN. ...

Update: See below - Charlene Li reports on podcasting market and podcast adoption. I previously had a PodTech InfoTalk with Charlene last year. She is a very solid analyst but I don’t know why or how she would come out with these low numbers. ...

Update: Here is further reflection from Todd Chanko of Jupiter Media on the barebones announcement on the Google/AOL deal. The hidden move here is the Instant Messenger play. Looks like Google may get more than just content from AOL but also some Internet technology. The ...

PODTECH EXCLUSIVE - YAHOO! PODCAST MEDIA RELEASE
In another PodTech Podcast InfoTalk exclusive I sat down with Scott Gatz lead RSS manager and Ethan Diamond lead Yahoo! Mail manager to introduce via a Podcast the Yahoo! expanded RSS platform and RSS integration into Yahoo! Mail. Plus Yahoo! ...